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Old Spice
11-18-2010, 14:54
In order for my GF and I to hike in 2012 and not be homeless or destitute upon our return we are having to get creative in our planning. I am moving in and splitting the rent with her starting in September and the subsequent six months until we leave. This will allow us to save enough money to keep her apartment while she is away. If we decide to sublet it for the six months we are away, then we will have a nice little next egg (in addition to what we save over the next year and a half for our re-integration costs) waiting for us upon return.

How have you all got creative in juggling the cost of living while away?

Spokes
11-18-2010, 15:47
Subletting is good. Do you a trusted friend or neighbor to handle any sort of emergency that may arise in your place while you're away?

I setup automatic bill pay for all my routine expenses and ran a balance on my credit card then setup a minimum monthly payment. I settled up when I returned.

I also Googled "RV Living", "Frugal RV Living", "Sailboat Living" (you get the drift) and researched a bunch of stuff about people with alternative living styles and how they managed expenses. Pretty cool.

Montana AT05
11-19-2010, 02:35
Reduce your cell phone service to the cheapest package possible. Disconnect phone, internet, etc.

Try to pay down any debt before you hike.

If you build a nest egg, consider putting it in a CD or something your bank may offer--so while you are away, it earns more interest and is inaccessible to you (forcing you to save it for your return).

fiddlehead
11-19-2010, 07:58
I bought a house and then rented it out.
Turned out that I liked thru-hiking so much, I just continued to rent it out for 12-13 years.

Now i own it (and they pretty much paid for it)
And I got to hike all the trails i wanted.

Yeah, i had to find a place to live between hikes but that wasn't so bad.

I'd say this isn't a bad time to buy a house.

Ok, it's not really creative but it worked for me.

Dogwood
11-19-2010, 18:30
Sold my vehicle in the lower 48 in 2005 before I went on a 2006 AT thru-hike. Don't currently have a vehicle in the lower 48 to this day. My employer in Hawaii gives me 24/7 access to a company vehicle(PU) with a company credit/debit card in the glove compartment for charging gas. I essentially eliminated car payments, auto insurance payments/increases, gas, car maintenance expenses in one clean swoop!- amounting to at least $12 K per yr! FEELS FUCHING GREAT! NO REGRETS! I"M NOT TETHERED TO A CAR ANYMORE! If I really need a car in the lower 48 I'd rather rent one for a short term.

Next thing. Kill your TV! Don't need the 60 inch diagonal flat screen plasma TV with umpteen/go zillion channels. You have to pay for ever increasing in price TV subscription/packages that include channels you rarely to never watch and many of the channels are simply advertisements to sell you more shart or to pay/subscribe to MORE TV viewing services!

That's $15 K in real savings. If you make less than $50 K/yr that just freed up about 1/3 of you cash flow! That's significant, even if you do factor in the if's, and's, or but's of not having a car! More importantly, you no longer waste a large amount of your life sinking into that Laz-Y-Boy recliner or sofa letting the brain numbing/washing airwaves sweep you off into oblivion! And, no longer are you devoting a sizeable portion of your income to a car.

Some, probably most Americans, just can't even imagine a life without the addictions of TV or automobiles though!

I can hear the letter keypads being angrily slammed right now as posts are being written to explain how TVs and automobiles aren't addictions/conveniences. They are necessities. BS!

Montana AT05
11-20-2010, 04:35
Umm, ok Dogwood, have to call you on this one!

When someone (you) has 24/7 access to a free car and lives on their employers site...and then tells other people they don't need a car....umm...ya...not working!

You're essentially telling people they don't need what you have for free...

sbhikes
11-20-2010, 11:07
Car-free living is possible. I am not car-free but I am car-lite. I prefer to ride a motorcycle. Anyway, TV is totally a waste of time. I hate our TV but The Man is in love with it. He pays for it.

I like the idea of buying a house and renting it out and living a house-free life. That's actually quite creative.

About the only creative thing I did for my hike finances was I just lived way under my means and saved a butt-load of cash. It helped I had a well-paying job, too. I have no payments except for rent. What the heck is there to spend so much money on anyway? If you don't own a house or have any payments on anything, all the money you make is yours. Other than food and hiking, there really isn't much else that is necessary for a happy life.

Pedaling Fool
11-20-2010, 12:33
Car-free living is possible, but not really, for most of us. I'm pretty close to being car-free; I'm so "car-free" that everytime I get in a car it takes a while to orient myself, in other words, I don't just start up a car and drive away. I have to think of the steps of what to do, it's kind of a mechanical operation as opposed to a fluid motion -- even when I shut the car off I can't do it in a fluid motion, I actually have to think about it. But still I could not live car-free, that would require a drastic change in lifestyle.

And it's not just the gas savings. Maintenace on a bicycle is also tons cheaper then a car.

But regardless, it does save me much money. Also pay attention to your waterbill, then pay attention to how you turn on your water. Most times all you need to do is just crack open the valve and that's plenty of water, even for washing dishes. And of course don't just let the water run.

I also save a lot of money with my garden, still getting tomatoes from it (but I live in Florida) and I don't buy fertilizer I make my own with kitchen scraps I throw in the compost pile. I've read some areas will reduce you trash pickup costs if you reduce your trash, which composting will do, you may want to check into that.

Slo-go'en
11-20-2010, 12:43
I've never spent more than $2,000 on a car in my life, and usually a lot less than that. Typically I'll get 4-5 years out of it before it needs major work, at which time I throw it away and get a new junker. I am glad some people buy new cars though, otherwise there'd be no old ones for me to buy!

I did buy a nice new 32" LCD TV last Christmas. We can't get off air channels here in the mountains, so I go to the libary and borrow DVD movies, of which they have a pretty good collection of. Satt or cable TV is definately a waste of money!

Pedaling Fool
11-20-2010, 12:46
I've never spent more than $2,000 on a car in my life, and usually a lot less than that.
That's a good point. I can't think of one reason to buy a new car; plenty of good used cars to pick from.

Dogwood
11-21-2010, 01:14
Umm, ok Dogwood, have to call you on this one!

When someone (you) has 24/7 access to a free car and lives on their employers site...and then tells other people they don't need a car....umm...ya...not working!

You're essentially telling people they don't need what you have for free...

I have not explained my entire vehicle situation and don't wish to. Stay on topic. I'm not telling other people they don't need a car. I'm addressing the original poster's original question. I am merely suggesting creative preplanning hiking and savings tactics in which I've utilized, and some others may quite posssibly take advantage of too, if they also elected to did what I did by by eliminating a car and TV to save money.

I do know what it's like to live/exist for periods without a vehicle!